Beautiful sound
by roxyfire57
Summary: AU Androids attack. Might be a oneshot, depends on reviews. CC collapses.
1. Chapter 1

**AU Androids attack. Onehot (maybe, depends)**

"...Bulma?"

Vegeta's voice was unnaturally soft, as he cradled the limp body in his hands. "Bulma? Are you okay?"

"Bulma? Can you open your eyes? Say something?" He rocked her gently from side to side, stroking her cheek. Her blue hair was streaked red and her clothes were soaked with blood, her lips slightly open. Her arm was outstretched when he found her, as if she was reaching for something before the roof collapsed.

Vegeta ran his fingers through her thick, matted hair and whispered softly in her ear. "I'm sorry. Please wake up."

Her eyes remained closed, as the sun set behind her.

The prince lay her down on an unscorched patch of grass. He stood up, scanning the area for something-anything! A sign that someone else was alive. he turned to face what was left of Capsule Corporation, now reduced to a heap of rubble.

There was a faint ki in the back.

Vegeta rushed over and started clawing through the bricks and pieces of furniture, splintered and smashed. He'd recognize that ki anywhere. _He's still alive. _He tossed aside a large brick, then another, to reveal a small, sobbing child.

He picked Trunks up and held him close to his chest. It was the first time Vegeta has ever held him. "Trunks, it's okay, Daddy's here…" Vegeta whispered, stroking the infant's forehead. he did not know if Trunks understood him, but the child ceased his crying and stared up at his father in large, unblinking eyes.

Trunks shivered against his father's large, warm chest. His leg was twisted in odd angles and there was a nasty cut on his forehead. It didn't look to serious, but Trunks's ki was falling at an incredible speed.

It was only then Vegeta felt something sticky on his hand.

Vegeta looked down-blood. Fresh. He examined Trunks in his arms, and saw. There was a large hole in his stomach, blood was draining from it. "...oh." Vegeta pursed his lips and resisted the urge to cry. He have not shed tears since the episode with Frieza on Namek,a dn he was determined to keep it that way, but…

"Papa."

He stared down in shock. Trunks's blue eyes looked up at him, his bottom lip quivering. Then he opened his mouth and let another small, two-syallable sound come out. "Papa."

His eyes welled up with tears. He had missed Trunks 'first word' or so Bulma put it, but at that time he didn't care. "The brat would be speaking like an adult soon. One or two words in his early days wouldn't make a difference."

He was wrong.

"Papa…" Trunks said again, with significantly more difficulty. Vegeta rocked him slowly. "Shush, Trunks." Trunks pouted-he had no intention on being silenced. "Papa!" he said, with more effort each time.

Vegeta shook his head-'no'. "Save your strength, Trunks." He didn't want him to stop, honestly. He wanted him to say more, to hear his voice. Trunks wouldn't survive the night. That blast in his stomach was fatal-somehow the infant had made it this long. Vegeta wanted to listen to Trunks forever, as if that would make up for the times he didn't.

As if reading his mind, Trunks opened his mouth and gurgled. "L-lo. Lov Papa." he choked out, and started wailing again.

Vegeta felt his heart break. "I love you too." It was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

Sometime into the night, Trunks stopped crying.

**End.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, this didn't really come out like I expected. That's not a bad thing, though. Just read! It's far longer than the first chapter, that's for sure... Thank you for reading and reviewing (I figured If I thanked you in advance, people would actually review...)**

**This chapter is dedicated to Raos.**

He groaned. The boy turned his head slightly, feeling immense pain shoot up the side of his neck. Slowly he opened his eyes, but promptly shut them again when he was blinded by the white light. He tried to lift his head, eyes still shut, but a light feeling in his head sent him collapsing back onto the soft pillow.

Wait… soft?

Gohan, against his body's will, flipped over and buried his face into the fluffiness. He gave a small squeal of delight and breathed in the scent of home from the pillow, and lied on his stomach for a few minutes, suffocating himself in the temporary and familiar warmth-

-Until he was really suffocating himself. He turned over again, and gasped as air entered his lungs. The demi saiyan squinted against the light as he opened his eyes again, and blinked as his vision slowly returned. It blurred at first, as stars swam in front of him and the colors swirled in his mind.

He lay back on the pillow and he saw that the place wasn't really bright at all.

Gohan was in a cave. It wasn't very large, and the only source of light was the entrance. A bunch of miscellaneous objects and furniture were scattered around the area, and as much as they seemed out of place it brought a certain homey feeling to cover up the coldness that would otherwise be unbearable. He turned his head slightly to the right, and could see a large familiar wooden wardrobe-his wooden wardrobe, in fact. Gohan gasped lightly in surprise to see it here, but then he realised that it was not the only thing of his.

There was also several of his books left in a pile at a corner, as well as the dining table ad chairs from his home. Strangely enough, He could recognize the Brief's belongings, such as the chest of drawers, the refrigerator, and Bulma's mini lab. There were other things, though, like the couch from KAME house that he remembered from his short visit there. Gohan blinked in confusion. Where am I?

"You're awake."

Gohan jerked his head towards his left, but immediately regretted it when hot pain seared through his body, causing him to lie back on the bed. He could make out Vegeta's silhouette as the saiyan prince stood in the entrance of the cave. "...Vegeta?" Gohan rasped out.

"You were out for two days." Vegeta stated, sitting on a stool next to the boy's bed. He placed the back of his hand on Gohan's forehead, before sighing deeply and reaching below the bed to pull out a first aid kit. Gohan watched in interest as the normally emotionless and stoic Vegeta helped him to sit up and rest his head against the headboard of the bed. It was then that Gohan realised that he was bandaged. Everywhere.

Vegeta took Gohan's left arm and started to unwrap the bandages slowly, and redress it. He rubbed a mild ointment on bruises and shallow cuts, but left them unbandaged. Gohan realised that although he was injured almost everywhere, it didn't seem to be more than a few cuts. Some were pretty long and deep, but he figured after the androids he would at least have a broken arm or two-

-Wait, the androids! Gohan scrambled out of bed, well tried to at least. Vegeta grabbed the squirming child by the waist and placed him back onto the bed, growling. "Stop moving, brat."

"Vegeta… The androids! What happened? Where am I? Where is everyone else? Did we win?"

Vegeta looked down at Gohan for a long moment. The saiyan prince felt something in his heart clench seeing the desperate hope in the boy's eyes, something he recognized in himself, for the first time, two days ago. Vegeta sighed and turned away. "Outside," he muttered, watching as Gohan's eyes glanced towards the cave entrance, then back at him.

The saiyan stood up and looked at the boy for a while. Gohan blinked back tears as he sat on the edge of the bed, "outside? Really?"

He watched at Vegeta nodded, slowly as if unsure. Gohan jumped off the bed, ignoring the sharp pain that shot up his leg as he did so, but Vegeta saw him wince. The older frowned as he watched the child walk slowly towards the outside, limping every few steps but refusing to stop.

"Wait." Gohan paused in his tracks and turned back. Vegeta was staring at him deeply with his onyx eyes, contemplating something. Then he held out a small item. Gohan limped back to the prince, to take the object out of his hands, and realised that it was a small stone. It was smooth and flat, but the tip was sharp. Gohan weighed it in his hand for a moment, and noticed that it fit nicely into his palm. "What do I need this for?"

Vegeta did not reply, but went to sit down at the table-his table. Sighing again Vegeta motioned towards the doorway, and Gohan stared at him inquisitively with a question at the tip of his tongue, but bit it back for Vegeta's sake. He knew the saiyan did not feel like talking now.

Gohan staggered outside, beyond Vegeta's scrutinizing view, and stopped short at the sight. It was in a row-neat and precise, like one would expect from a battalion of soldiers, brave and strong. There was not one out of place, the edges were carved with perfection and the hard end of the stone was anchored into the ground, under the soft sunlight that streamed through the network of leaves, casting an almost magical glow on the stones.

And instantly Gohan knew this was what Vegeta was talking about.

It was a row of tombstones. He gasped. Gohan walked over slowly to the first one in the row, and saw, carved intricately with royal cursive script, was the name 'Krillin'. There was a mound of soft tampered dirt just beyond it, and staring at this sight Gohan felt tears spring up in his eyes. "Krillin?" He squeaked, and as if in reply a warm breeze blew past the child.

Gohan blinked twice. He moved on to the next stone, which wrote 'Yamcha'. Gohan sighed. "You too?" The demi saiyan dropped his head and dragged himself to the one beside it, to read the word 'Chiaotzu'.

He was mildly surprised, actually, that Vegeta had done this. Gohan looked around, and noticed the silence. It was oddly quiet for nature, but Gohan could hear the distant chirping of crickets and the rustling of leaves as the wind weaved it's way through the treetops. The twigs cracked under his bare feet as the boy walked over to the fourth stone, written 'Tien'. He frowned, and looked down, tears threatening to spill from the sides of his eyes.

'Piccolo.' At this point the demi saiyan felt light headed and collapsed onto the grass, sobbing softly. "Piccolo.. no…" His mentor, trusted friend, ally, second father. Never mind that the namekian was an entirely different species, Piccolo was always there to protect him. He would even give up his life to protect his protege. But now…

Gohan trembled as he cried silently. He gripped the roots of the small plants and crushed them in the palm of his free hand, the other hand gripping the stone from Vegeta so tightly that it dug into his flesh and drew blood. Still shaking Gohan stood up and limped towards the next two tombstones, and his eyes widened. 'Kakarot/Goku', the first one was carved. 'Chi Chi', was the second.

He felt weak in the knees and fell to the ground. "Mummy… Daddy…" Gohan sobbed. Goku had died earlier in the year due to a heart virus, and was buried outside the Son house. But it seemed Vegeta had moved him. His entire body wrecked as Gohan rested his head against the rounded edge of his mother's stone plate and cried. "Mummy.. I'm sorry, I couldn't protect you… Mummy."

He laid there for a while. Gohan's head was flooded with memories and regret, especially the latter. "I wasn't there… I'm sorry…" he whispered. He brushed his fingers against the smooth stone and felt the carvings where Vegeta had indented the names in, and blinked.

From the corner of his eyes, beyond the tears, he saw two more headstones. Gohan forced himself to get up and staggered over to the last two names, and stopped short.

'Trunks'. 'Bulma'. "Oh." Gohan breathed, unable to register in his mind fully the names. Trunks, Bulma and Vegeta's son, right? He's dead too? But… how? The demi saiyan wiped the tears away with the back of his torn sleeve. Gohan knelt down and sighed longingly. "Sorry Trunks. You died when you were one, you never got to experience the world…" he whispered.

What was that? Gohan carefully picked up the stone and turned it over, gasping in surprise. Vegeta had carved a short paragraph behind Trunks's tombstone. 'Son. I have never held you, or told you that I have loved you, until it was too late. I will avenge you. I am sorry. I love you. -V'

Gohan placed the stone back into it's position, numb from the words. Vegeta was not a man of affection, but Gohan knew that truly meant something. Absentmindedly he removed Bulma's stone and flipped it over as well. 'Woman, Bulma. I'm sorry. I promise you would not die in vain. I will destroy the androids. Take care of Trunks in the Otherworld. I love you. -V'

Gohan didn't realise he had started crying again.

It was then he remembered the stone. Gohan lifted up the small rock, blood tinted at the corner from his palm, and blinked in surprise. It wasn't just a stone. It's shape had a purpose, like… like a chisel of some sort. yes! It was a chisel, for carving.

Gohan turned towards the tombstones and finally realised what it was for.

He wrote something for every one of them. Even though he know each and every one of the fighters on a close level, they were his friends. They were his father's friends. And he was determined not to let anyone's memories die out.

'Krillin. Thanks for being my father's best friend, and being a great friend of mine. Remember the trip to planet Namek? Even though you died in the end, you went all the way to protect me. I will avenge you, I promise.'

'Yamcha, you're a good friend and ally, and I won't let you die in vain'

'Chiaotzu. I don't really know you, but I will defeat the androids for everyone.'

'Tien. I don't really know you either. But I will avenge your memory.'

'Piccolo.' Gohan paused. 'You're a great mentor, and my first teacher. You're like my second father, and a great friend. You sacrificed yourself to save me many times, and although at first I was afraid of you you helped me to be independent and overcome those fears. I would never have made it this far without you. Thank you for always being there, and I won't let the androids get away with this. Don't worry Piccolo.'

Gohan sniffed and pushed back tears. 'Dad. Even though you died because of a heart virus, I know you're still with me. And you must feel terrible for not being able to defeat the androids. I love you Daddy and I'm going to avenge everyone. You're a great dad and the best fighter in the world, and I know you're not going to stop training in the Otherworld. So I need you to help me. I will be able to make it because I know you'll always be supporting me, Dad. I love you.'

He started crying softly. 'Mummy, I love you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I promised I would after daddy died, but I wasn't strong enough. Don't worry Mummy, I will get stronger so I can defeat the androids and save everyone. I miss you a lot, and I know it's been really hard on you ever since Daddy died, but at least now you're happy and safe with him in the Otherworld. Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself now. And I know you don't trust Vegeta but he won't let anything happen to me, I know it, and he's going to take care of me as well. I love you, Mummy, and I will avenge you.'

Gohan trembled and hugged himself, sobbing. He looked up towards the cave entrance and saw Vegeta there, watching him. The demi-saiyan crawled over and sat next to the saiyan prince. Neither of them said anything for a long while-they just indulged in silent companionship. Gohan, for the first time, realised why Vegeta never talked much.

When you're quiet, you can hear everything around you clearly. He blinked upwards towards the sky and saw a bird flitting overhead. Gohan sighed softly and leaned back against the cool outer wall of the cave, not talking.

Vegeta looked down at the boy seated next to him, and placed a hand gently on his head. Gohan looked up in mild surprise, wiped away a tear, and managed a small smile.


End file.
